Together And Apart
by I-Threaten-My-Houseplants
Summary: Co-written w/ Usa-chan1. Three years had passed, but she still missed him. She could not agree to the new fiance her parents had found, she wanted to avenge him, and she wanted to run away from it all...but she needed help in doing so. Post anime season 2
1. Prologues

Prologue the First—

Three years. It had been three years since that day, the day he became what he was. In a way, he was grateful to Hannah Annafellows, but he did hate her… in a way.

Of course, he would rather not have had his soul eaten; at least, that's what he had thought when the contract first began. Since then, he had managed to come to grips with the idea, but he still had not looked forward to the time that he would become his demon's dinner. Hannah Annafellows had "saved" him from such a fate, but had also subjected him to complete and utter BOREDOM. Most days, Ciel just watched the human world. That is what demons did—watch humanity, looking for prey. Demons existed to do two things—watch the souls being tortured and make sure punishment was doled out properly and watch humanity to see who wanted a contract. For the first time, Ciel understood why Sebastian had commented that humans were boring at the beginning of the contract. Humans were monotonous, humans were tired, humans were the same, day in and day out, and they followed their little routines. Watching the beings he had once counted himself among was almost more boring than the drone of his History and Politics tutor.

The young demon flicked his blue-black hair out of his eyes and sighed. "Young master," a voice, one all too familiar to Ciel, said. "Could you perhaps be growing _bored?_" A note of amusement colored Sebastian's voice.

Ciel scowled. Even after four years, he did not understand how Sebastian could tell almost exactly what he was thinking.

Prologue the Second—

Elizabeth was listening to her tutor, but it was hard. All she thought of was the boy she had met at lunch. He was nice enough, but Elizabeth didn't want the arranged marriage.

"It's been three years, Lizzy. It's time to start looking for a new fiancé," her mother had said to her. "It's time to move on."

"No!" Elizabeth had shouted. "I still love Ciel! I can't marry someone else!" She had choked back her tears. "And call me Elizabeth," Lizzy was the name she had reserved for Ciel and Ciel only.

Elizabeth decided something, right there as her tutor talked endlessly. She would go to drastic measures to avenge Ciel, to escape a marriage she couldn't agree to, and to feel complete again. Yes, she would do all this—and she would do so by calling a demon. She didn't know if it would work, but it was the last thing she could do.

Elizabeth smoothed her dark blue dress. She had taken to wearing dark, dreary, mourning colors since Ciel's death.

Elizabeth stood up. "I'm sorry," she said, I'm not feeling well. I am going to my room," she exited the room without waiting for an answer from her tutor.

It was time. Time to avenge her beloved Ciel.


	2. Contract

Elizabeth went to her room and closed the door. She needed to be utterly and completely alone. 'How does one even call a demon? Is it like the books say, by saying that one wants a contract...?' she had read many books on the occult, something that had been of interest to her lately. She knew about the contracts, a recurring theme in books involving demons, a subject she had researched extensively in the months prior. "Demon?" she said out loud. Her voice was doubtful, timid. "Can you hear me? Can anyone hear me?" she had no idea what she was doing. "All I want is to make a contract! Is that so hard?"

Elizabeth threw herself on her bed and pulled her pillow to her face, muffling her scream. Then, suddenly, she felt something. A presence, maybe human, maybe...otherworldly...around her. She was baffled by the notion. "Demon?" she called out.

_I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I_

Ciel heard the call first. "Can you hear me? Can anyone hear me?" a voice, heavy with multiple years' worth of sadness and grief, called out. He looked deeper into the Portal that demons used to make contracts and watch humans. The demon squinted into the image, focusing on the source of the sound. He knew that voice...Elizabeth. It was Elizabeth... the one person he had missed since he became a demon.

Sebastian looked over at his master and smiled. "I take it that you will be wanting this one?" when Ciel nodded, the corners of Sebastian's lips curved into a slight smile.

"But...how does it work?" Ciel asked, already stepping towards the portal.

"Trust your instincts, young master," Sebastian said.

"Watch from here," Ciel ordered. "Come only when I call you. That's an order." His form flashed with bright light and he was a tall, black-haired youth, broader-shouldered and black eyed. "I don't want her to know to know that it's me. She...would not take it well..." Sebastian had taught him well. The shape-shifting was a particular talent of the former Earl's, and he had certainly put it to good use. He stepped through the portal and into Elizabeth's room.

_I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I_

The young girl was lying on a bed with her face in the pillow. "Demon?" she tried to make sure that it really was the creature she tried to call.

_I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I_

Ciel quickly concentrated and they were transported into the Between, the place demons go to make contracts. "You wish to form a contract?" he stayed where she would not be able to see him. The girl floated limply, eyes closed. A light breeze blew black feathers everywhere- demons in the Between relied on these feathers to carry their words to the human.

_I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I_

Elizabeth was amazed that her calls worked. "I- I do wish to make a contract." She stifled back tears as she thought about her past. "My betrothed, well rather, ex betrothed is no longer with me. I want to do whatever it takes to avenge him!" she added one more thing in a whisper: "And I want to do whatever it takes to make sure I will never marry another..."

She looked at the feathers floating by. They looked like the pictures in her occult books. Those feathers carried the words of the demon that she was 'talking' to. There was something familiar about them, like someone she used to know. Ciel? No, more like Sebastian. Was he? No, Ciel wouldn't have done that to avenge his parents, would he?

_I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I_

Ciel went through the formalities stiffly. His own voice was unfamiliar to him; his new form came with a deeper one. He was completely unrecognizable to Elizabeth. "Think carefully, if you go through with this, the gates of heaven will forever be closed to you..." he said, fighting to keep surprise out of his voice. She had changed so much...it was evident by the dark mourning blue of her dress. She was no longer wearing the cutesy things that so suited her and the corkscrew pigtails had been replaced by a sensible bun.

_I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I_

"I don't care!" Elizabeth almost yelled, "I loved Ceil with all my heart. All I wanted to do was see him happy! Now I can never, EVER, see that happen!" She lost it, the tears she had been working so hard to get back started to flow. Her body, floating in the viscous but breathable atmosphere of the Between, heaved with sobs. "Have you ever had the thing you loved most in the world ripped from your hands? No of course not, you're nothing but a demon!" She gasped. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean that, I'm just...mad."

_I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I_

Ciel's eyes widened in shock. The brief flicker of memory that presented itself to him quickly died down, but his heart still pounded with anger. How could she... how... his hands clenched into fists, but that was the only visible sign of his anger. "Once something has been lost, it can never be regained." he said, the phrase familiar to him. He had repeated it many times before, to Madam Red, to Lau, to Elizabeth sometimes. Reminding himself that she did not recognize him, he spoke once more. "You are aware what your fate will be when your goal is acheived?" maybe, just maybe, she would turn back. He didn't particularly want that, but he didn't want to condemn Elizabeth.

_I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I_

Elizabeth looked towards where she thought the demon might be. "You think I don't know that something lost can never be regained? I know! It- it was told to me before!" She remembered Ceil saying it many times. She felt her heart get heavy at the thought "I know my fate as well. I plan to make the contract anyway. Someone in my position has lost all hope; I no longer care about what happens after death, in fact, after Ceil left, I was already dead."

_I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I_

Ciel smiled sadly, knowing she could not see his face. "You still plan to go through with it..." he marveled. It was the very nature of the Between to set every doubt into the human's mind. "Then name me, and I will mark you," he said. He was suddenly hyperaware of his own mark with Sebastian, transferred to the back of his neck by this new form.

_I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I_

Elizabeth thought for a while, a name. What could his name be? "I will name you Matthew." She said. Matthew was the name of the doll Ceil had gotten for her birthday the year before the fire. She still had Matthew sitting on a shelf above her bed. She smiled thinking of the doll. It was one of the Funtom companies. The Funtom Company had gone down greatly after Ceil left the head of it. Elizabeth had a lot of old Funtom toys that almost no one else had. Matthew was the perfect name.

_I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I_

"Very well," Ciel said, remembering the name's origins with a slight smile. The next thing he knew, he was staring intently at Lizzie. He slowly stepped forward and a pentagram glowed on the ground, two beams of light shooting up. One concentrated on the back of Ciel's hand, burning a copy of the pentagram into the skin. Ciel felt no pain, but he could not say the same for Lizzie. The mark would be placed on the inside of her wrist, the vein bisecting it but not affecting the power and significance of the mark.

The mark began burning its way into her skin, to stay there for the rest of eternity.

_I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I_

Elizabeth suppressed screams, she didn't want to already seem weak to the demon that was there to help her get revenge for her Ceil. Her wrist was burning and it felt like it was on fire. Elizabeth's throat went dry, like she was in a desert with no water.

The pain suddenly stopped, and the only remnant of the pain was a slight stinging in her wrist. "I-Is that it?" she asked. "Do I need to do anything else?"

_I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I_

"No," Ciel answered, plain, the way he had gotten it four years ago. He blinked and found himself standing in Elizabeth's room, right next to her bed. The Between seemed to know when and how to move both the demonic and human party to the desired location after the contracts was made.

_I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I_

"Well," Elizabeth "The first thing I need to do is get out of this house. I can't stand it anymore! I plan to run away, and then I can start seeking my revenge." She looked around her to see what she wanted to bring. She knew she needed a dress or two and some food, but other than that, she had no idea. "What do you suppose I bring?"

_I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I_

Ciel looked around and racked his brains for possibilities, but he had no idea what a girl would pack. "Perhaps it would be more practical to consider the destination before the packing?" he suggested. He was suddenly very grateful that the random form he had changed into was wearing a regular butler uniform, and that that was what it would be wearing for the rest of the contract.

_I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I_

"Oh," Elizabeth smiled "I already know that! We will be heading to an abandoned manor on the outskirts of London. No one lives there." Elizabeth thought of all the fond memories she had at the old manor. "The Phantomhive manor."

_I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I~I_

Ciel couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the suggestion, but he went along with it. Mentally, he called Sebastian, telling him to come, straighten up the manor and replace what had probably been looted, change his form, and stay out of Elizabeth's sight. He smiled inwardly at the decision to go to the Phantomhive manor, replaying his fair share of memories, careful to omit the painful ones. He wanted nothing to ruin this for Elizabeth, she had suffered enough already. If the loss of a loved one drove her to abandon her happy manner and be 'un-cute', as she used to say, then he did not want to change her even more.


	3. The Manor

Ciel watched his contractor flutter about the room, gathering various possessions to be packed. This was the first time he had ever seen a female pack, and he was amazed at the amount of clothing that she seemed to possess. The pile of rejected dresses grew larger and larger, spilling over her bed and onto the floor. He knelt to pick them up and neatly deposited them onto the bed. Fondly, he remembered the room that had been reserved especially for her at the Phantomhive manor. She had kept even more dresses there... Ciel honestly dreaded the moment when she would ask his opinion.

Elizabeth wandered around the room. She knew that she would have plenty of room at the manor to put things, so she could bring as much as Matthew and herself could carry. "wh-" she started to ask his opinion on one of the dresses but thought better of it "I mean, could you go get some food from the kitchen without being seen please?"

"Of course," Ciel had had a lot of practice sneaking around, courtesy of Sebastian's tutelage. He opened the window and jumped out; going from windowsill to windowsill, until...if his memory served him right...he arrived at the right window. It was the right window, and the room was conveniently empty. He grabbed a basket that had been out on the counter, filled with warm rolls, and added a few apples and other various fruits, and climbed out the window again. He crept his way back to Elizabeth's window and climbed over her windowsill. "Will this be enough?" he held up the small basket. The journey would be short, considering demon speeds, and Sebastian would be at the manor, with everything prepared for them.

Elizabeth nodded as she put the doll Matthew and a picture of her, Ciel, and all the servants on the top of her bag and zipped it up. They were the only non-essential item she would bring. Other than that she had 4 dresses in total, her hairbrush and a few hair bands, Her handkerchief, and a bow that Ciel had given her. "Alright!" Elizabeth said, cheerier than she had been for the past three years. "Are you ready to go?" she asked. She suddenly felt a sense of warmth, like she had known her new butler for years, since they were children. Her mind went to Ciel. 'No! Stop! He isn't Ciel!' She thought. She didn't want to be disappointed when she was wrong...

"Always," Ciel said with a slight smile. He never thought he would be doing something like this...but strangely, he didn't mind. He slung the bag over his shoulder and handed the basket to Elizabeth. Then, out of nowhere, he scooped her up in his arms. "You may want to close your eyes," he added the unfamiliar phase, "my lady." And then he jumped out the window.

Elizabeth did as she was told and closed her eyes. There was a sensation of flying almost. She could tell he was running fast, very fast. She knew her life as she knew it was now over; no it was over three years ago, when Ceil left her. Elizabeth day dreamed about the last dance she had with him. It came as such a surprise that he would ask her to dance, he never danced. It was the most beautiful thing she had experienced, but Ceil was different. She couldn't explain, but something was strange about him that day.

Then he left. He never came back.

Ciel still remembered the way to the manor, and Sebastian's voice in his head giving him directions was still much appreciated. He ran like the wind, curving around trees and boulders to avoid harming the girl. A pang of guilt stabbed at his heart. He felt bad for leaving her, but it wasn't like he could have done anything about it. Seeing that they had arrived, he came to a slow stop.

Elizabeth felt Ciel come to a stop. "Are we here?" she asked timidly, not planning to open her eyes till she was sure. Her hand gripped the basket tightly; she didn't want to lose the little food she had.

"Yes," Ciel answered, walking slowly up to the manor. This place looked as good as new, now that Sebastian had come back to it. He had seen it from the Portal, and it had looked awful in the years it was abandoned- ivy had grown unchecked all over the walls, and some of it had crumbled.

Elizabeth looked at the house. She had been there a month before when ivy and taken over most of the walls and the right side had crumbled slightly. "Now this is odd," she thought out loud, "I was here a month ago and it wasn't nearly this nice! I wonder what happened…." She remembered the over grown garden too, but now it was clean cut and beautiful "The place wasn't sold, no one should be living in it." She kept pondering.

Ciel placed the girl on the ground, careful. "Will you be wanting to choose your own room, or does it not matter?" he had a feeling that he knew what room she wanted, but he still wanted to be sure.

"Oh," Elizabeth said, coming out of her daze "There was a room set aside especially for me when Ciel lived here. It might still have some of my stuff, I will sleep there." She thought for a moment, there was something she wanted more than anything, well, other than avenging Ciel. "Could you do me a favor?" She asked her new found butler Matthew.

"Yes," Ciel answered. He opened the door for his mistress.

"I want to find-" she started, then paused, not sure how to start, "Some old friends..."

She pulled out the old picture she always kept in her pocket "This is a bunch of people I would like to talk to again; I don't know where they are, so you need to find them." She pointed at each person "This is Bardroy, and this is Finnian, and this is Mey-Rin, and this is Tanaka. I will talk to them for information, but I need them all." She looked at the picture again, "Oh I almost forgot, this is Sebastian, He will be the most important to get. I will find the room and settle in, you go get them."

"I can't promise that it will be as fast as you would like...but I will take care of it, my lady," Ciel promised. He bowed, an action unfamiliar to him, and led her up to the room. The mansion looked the same on the inside as it always had, perfect and spotless. He planned his approach carefully. He would have Sebastian look for Tanaka's address first, and since Tanaka had kept all the records, he would have the addresses of the former servants.

Elizabeth smiled when Matthew left to find the people she so desperately needed. If anyone would know who hurt Ceil to make him leave Elizabeth, it would be his old loyal servants. She couldn't wait to see them all again.


	4. Chloroform

Elizabeth settled in to her new room and lay down on the bed. This was the first time she could just sit in months, mostly her parents have tried to get her to go to parties and balls or go shopping for cute things, but she was done with that. Something down the stairs made a sound. "Hello?" she called out though she didn't know why and an intruder wouldn't just introduce himself. She started to walk down the stairs until something was put over her face. She got very dizzy and could feel herself starting to black out. 'Matthew,' she said in her mind 'save me, hurry!" and all went black.

Ciel heard her voice in his head, heard her desperate call. He stopped in his tracks, turned around in the direction opposite to the office, and ran. He could feel the mark on his hand burning. Since Elizabeth's mark had never been covered by gloves, it still gave off the unmistakably traceable aura that he needed to find her. He cursed himself for leaving her, because if he hadn't, this would not have happened. He ran, ran towards the front hall, where he found his mistress unconscious, a cloaked figure holding a cloth over her face. Chloroform. He recognized the scent; it had been used on him a few times before, by hopeful kidnappers.

Ciel knew he had no chance with silverware, he wasn't Sebastian. What he could do was fence. He wasn't exactly a prodigy like Elizabeth, but he knew his way around a sword. He grabbed one off of a suit of armor and sprinted at the figure, running him through before he could see what was coming. The figure's hood fell and revealed him to be a man a little on the older side. Elizabeth's body began to droop to the ground along with the kidnapper's, and he caught her gently. Another figure emerged from behind a pillar.

"We've received substantial amounts of money to bring the Middleford girl back to where she belongs," the person stated. He pulled out a gun, but soon met the same fate as his comrade as Ciel laid Elizabeth down on the stairs and made quick work of the man. As he pulled to bloody sword from his opponent's shuddering body, he glared at him.

"Once something is truly lost, one can never get it back again," Ciel said. A small sound in the corner of the room distracted him and he saw Sebastian, in his new form, standing there and smiling at him.

"Shall I dispose of them, master?" he asked, making no comments as to Ciel's instinctive actions.

"Yes. Make sure Elizabeth doesn't see any evidence of what happened," he clarified.

"Of course, sir," Sebastian set to work. Ciel turned back to Elizabeth and picked her up off the staircase, her small frame light in his arms. He started to walk up the stairs.

Elizabeth felt herself being carried away from where she was knocked out by chloroform. If it wasn't for that dirty trick, she could have just fenced with him head on, dirty asshole. She was still very groggy, but she didn't mind being carried by Matthew. There was still something so familiar about him, if only she could put her finger on it. "What happened to those damn kidnappers?" Elizabeth asked, slurring her words. Elizabeth's language had become more... colorful after Ceil left. If Ceil ever did come back, he wouldn't recognize her. She was so different, so strange.

"There is no need to worry, I showed them the proper hospitality," Ciel said with the slightest of smiles. "And I suggest watching your language, my lady. It is unbecoming to you to speak so...colorfully," he always thought it would be the other way around, that she would be the one reprimanding him for his words. Ciel rounded yet another corner.

"I-I can walk on my own" Elizabeth tried to say, and it sounded more like she really could wall on her own. She knew she really couldn't yet, the chloroform wasn't fully worn off. she just didn't want to seem so helpless. It was a horrible feeling.

"I would not advise that, my lady," he was speaking from personal experience. "But if you insist..." he stepped into the room and gently placed her onto the floor.

"Well," Elizabeth said as she swayed dangerously, "You were about four feet from the bed; you could have sat me there!" she thought of Ceil doing things like that, always being smart with her.

"Ah, but you were so adamant about walking on your own," he said and scooped her up again. This time he sat her on the bed, propping her up against the fluffy pillows. He started to leave.

"Wait," she called, not sure why "um, will you stay until I can walk and such?" She slurred her words again, the effects were wearing off, but she still couldn't hold herself up well. "Just in case those ba- I mean low-life's come back?" She remembered her language problem.

Ciel saw the girl droop against the pillows and nodded. He smiled at the effort to keep the language clean. "Of course, my lady," he said.

Elizabeth smiled and closed her eyes. She felt safe around Matthew, though she didn't know why, she just did. Her mind then shifted to thoughts of Ceil, his perfect face, His wonderful silk skin, and beautiful blue gray hair. She kept thinking of Ceil as she slowly drifted to sleep.


End file.
